No. 344: Blowing in from Denmark, droning on at PSEG and star trekking in Garden City (plus, your Cocoa Puffs origin story)

On the run: Named one of the top 25 marathons in the world (and a bucket list must-do), the Hamptons Marathon is also a Boston qualifier with a USATF Sanctioned and Certified course.

September 28, 2018

Friday morning and the mood is high: Welcome to the end of another busy workweek, dear readers. It’s Sept. 28 out there, and the first full weekend of autumn is upon us.

Friday night and the lights are low: To get you in the proper mood, check out this list of the top 15 Friday songs, courtesy of our friends at MetroLyrics.

Freedom rocks: It’s International Right to Know Day, the 16th anniversary of a global effort to share ideas, strategies and success stories about the development of Freedom of Information laws.

It’s also the 12th annual Freedom From Hunger Day, an international effort to raise awareness about global poverty and support sustainable self-help solutions that empower women in impoverished countries.

The weatherman: Speaking of your five-day forecast, Arnold Guyot – a Swiss-American geologist and meteorologist whose work led to the establishment of the United States Weather Bureau – would be 211 years old today.

Hundred Schools of Thought (give or take a day): Happy birthday also to Confucius, (551 BC-479 BC), the fabled Chinese philosopher who was born on this date, or thereabouts.

Also born on Sept. 28 were Paul-Urich Villard (1860-1934), the French physicist and chemist who discovered gamma rays; Seymour Cray (1925-1996), the American electronics engineer credited with developing the earliest supercomputers; and legendary TV host Ed Sullivan (1901-1974).

And God created Brigitte: And take a bow, Brigitte Bardot – the French actress, model and animal activist turns 84 today.

Wish the former starlet a happy birthday at editor@innovateli.com – and gift us a story tip or calendar suggestion, too, please and thank you.

About our sponsor:Hofstra University is an engine for research and innovation, combining a Center for Entrepreneurship, a Center for Innovation, the expertise of its faculty, the energy of its students and the state-of-the-art resources of its schools of engineering and applied science, business, law and medicine to drive and transform the region’s economy. Visit us.

BUT FIRST, THIS

On your Denmark: The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority and the Danish Ministry of Energy, Utilities and Climate on Thursday announced a Memorandum of Understanding focused on offshore wind-energy strategies.

The agreement recognizes Albany and Denmark’s “common interest in developing offshore wind energy” and “reflects New York’s commitment to learn from Europe as an industry leader,” according to a statement from NYSERDA, which conducted a public information meeting Thursday in Rockaway Beach to discuss New York’s efforts to advance 2.4 gigawatts of offshore-generated electricity by 2030, as laid out by the NYS Offshore Wind Master Plan.

Per the agreement, the two sides will exchange expertise and innovations in offshore wind energy, including areas such as infrastructure and workforce development. Lars Christian Lilleholt, Denmark’s minister of energy, utilities and climate, said he was “very proud” of the MOU, adding, “We are delighted to share the lessons that we have learned over the years with NYSERDA.”

Open and shut case: Doctors at Bay Shore-based Southside Hospital have successfully implanted a state-of-the-art valve-replacement system designed to correct a dysfunction that commonly leads to open-heart surgeries.

The implant of the Abbott’s Tendyne Transcatheter Mitral Valve Replacement system was part of an international clinical trial focused on a condition known as mitral regurgitation, in which blood flows backward and leaks into the left atrium of the heart, leading to heart failure. Illinois-based medical device-maker Abbott is proposing the Tendyne system, which is implanted in a minimally invasive procedure, as an alternative to open-heart surgery, a common treatment for mitral regurgitation.

The clinical trial is slated to involve more than 1,000 patients at 80 sites throughout the United States, Canada and Europe, and “it is great to see that our first patient is doing so well after this procedure,” according to Robert Kalimi, Southside Hospital’s vice chairman of cardiovascular and thoracic surgery and a member of the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research.

TOP OF THE SITE

New heights: An aerial drone fleet deployed by Hauppauge-based ULC Robotics will help PSEG-Long Island maintain its equipment and respond to storm-related outages.

Case Western’s think[box]: A Case Western Reserve University School of Engineering project is a big part of Cleveland’s exploding makerspace scene.

ON THE MOVE

+ Uniondale-based Rivkin Radler has announced the hire of three new associates: Thomas DeMarco was hired in General Liability; he was previously with Woodbury-based Milber Makris Plousadis & Seiden. Jacob Fleitman was hired in Commercial Litigation and Real Estate; he was previously with Manhattan-based Tane Waterman & Wurtzel. Michael Rudick was hired in General Liability; he was previously with Manhattan-based Herzfeld & Rubin.

+ Gordon Tepper has been hired as director of public relations at LIU Post in Brookville and Brooklyn. Previously, he was director of communications for the City of Long Beach.

+ Michael Leahy has been appointed chairman of the board of directors of Old Bethpage-based Family Residences and Essential Enterprises Inc. He is the owner of Lindenhurst-based Metropolis Management.

+ Christine Going has been elected to the board of directors of Hauppauge-based Island Harvest Food Bank. She is the chief of nutrition and food service at the Northport VA Medical Center.

BELOW THE FOLD

With sugar on top: From the sanitarium to Saturday morning cartoons, Quartz dishes on the flaky history of breakfast cereal.

The breakfast of champions: So, who was the first athlete to grace a box of Wheaties?

No such thing as a free breakfast: Or free lunch or free news, for that matter, so please support the great institutions that support Innovate LI, including Hofstra University and its economic-development honcho, Mark Lesko, a true mad scientist of innovation.